How to Pack a Backpack

Hiking Tips

Knowing how to pack a backpack correctly can greatly improve both your comfort and convenience while hiking. This detailed guide will show you exactly how to pack a hiking backpack, meaning that you can focus on the real enjoyment that hiking brings

Learn How to Pack a Hiking Backpack the Right Way

So, you’re going on a backpacking trip. Great! If you’ve planned well, gotten the right backpack and pre-tested all your equipment, you should be in for a memorable time. You may, however, still have some last-minute questions, such as how to pack a backpack the right way.

After all, when done correctly, even a small hiking backpack can pack a bunch of stuff. When done wrong, on the other hand, you might end up suffering from back pains and other nuisances on the trail. In short, a properly packed backpack increases both comfort and convenience while hiking. They’re “the two C’s” according to Backpacker.com.

Marco Johnson from the National Outdoor Leadership School uses another yet similar principle. He goes bythe A-B-C principle, where A stands for “accessibility”, B for “balance”, and C for “compressed” or “condensed”.

Good packing practices take all these terms into account, resulting in a well-balanced and comfortable backpack with easy access to all necessary gear.

Packing a Hiking Backpack the Correct Way – Step by Step

First of all, no matter whether you want to know how to pack a backpack for day hiking or how to pack a backpack for long distance hiking, let it be clear that there’s no absolutely perfect way to do it.

Where your stuff will end up in your backpack depends on, one: what kind of stuff you have; and two: how often you’ll need to access certain things.

That being said, however, there are a number of steps you can follow to make the packing process as efficient and smooth as possible, while also ensuring that your backpack will feel comfortable on your back.

They’re super-straightforward, easy to remember and possibly even super-obvious. Anyway, it’s still important to talk about where exactly everything should go in your backpack.

Step 1: Lay Everything Out on the Floor

In this first step, you’ll get a clear overview of all your things. From clothing and food to camping gear and first-aid materials; lay everything out on the floor before you. This way, you can start to visualize what gear should go where. It’s the beginning of all good packing plans.

Additionally, this will also give you the opportunity to review your clothing choices. If you haven’t backpacked all that much, it’s quite possible that you’re prone to overpacking.

It’s very tempting to take that extra sweater or pair of shorts. You’ll probably have enough room to fit one extra thing, so why not do that, right? No! Keeping comfort in mind, it’s important to keep the weight of your backpack as low as possible.

Clothes like rain jackets and warm base layers are absolutely essential, but that’s about it. If you’re here because you want to know how to pack a backpack for a 3-day trip, you’ll only need one pair/item of all other clothing. Remember that layering is important. Being able to change from one T-shirt into another is not.

When laying everything out on the floor, try to put things in categories, such as camping gear, cooking equipment, clothes, food,… This’ll help you with the following steps.

Step 2: Fill the Bottom of Your Backpack

It may be common sense to pack your backpack from the bottom up. And it is! But the key lies in knowing what to put in the bottom of your pack. Since most backpacks are only accessible from the top, the things you won’t regularly need during your backpacking trip should go on the bottom.

This is almost always your camping gear. Your sleeping bag should be the first thing you put in your backpack, as well as the very last thing that comes out of it.

Then, put your sleeping pad and other camping gear around it. Alternatively, you could also strap your sleeping pad on the outside of your backpack if it’s particularly large. That’s up to you.

Other items you could place at the bottom of your backpack are camp shoes, toiletries and clothes you plan to sleep in.

Step 3: Pack the Middle of Your Backpack

The middle of your backpack is reserved for your heavy stuff. The number one rule to remember when trying to pack a well-balanced and stable backpack is that the heaviest things should be in the middle of the pack, right against your back.

Keep heavy stuff away from the bottom, top and outer areas of your backpack. This keeps your center of gravity in the middle, reducing the chance that you’ll lose your balance while hiking.

This heavy stuff is usually your cooking gear, water and food. This also includes your tent, unless you’re sleeping in a hammock. When hiking in bear country, your bear canister is also among your heavy stuff.

A useful tip is to not keep your tent in its original bag, but simply taking everything out and distributing it strategically throughout your pack. In that case, your tent poles and pegs will be against your back, while the tent body can be stuffed in left-over spaces in the middle of your pack. You can also wrap any extra clothes you decide to bring in your tent body. This will help keep them dry.

Step 4: Finish With the Top of the Backpack

Lastly, it’s time to fill up the top of the backpack. This will be the location of everything you need to have readily accessible on the trail. Things such as clothes, snacks, a first-aid kit, a map, rain jacket and sunglasses should go there.

60

SHARES

Related Posts:

About Gavin Evans

Hi, I'm Gavin — I’ve been fortunate enough to travel fairly extensively throughout my life but it was only in 2017 that Didem and I decided to start blogging about our travel experiences, focusing on hiking. We aim to inspire you to go hiking and enjoy the vast array of benefits that hiking offers. We hope you enjoy the journey!

Footer

Roaming Spices

Keep In Touch

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRejectRead More

Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.